Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Wagging on Wednesday with Dorsey

Wagging on Wednesday is brought to us today by Liz Encarnacion and her dog, Dorsey. She writes: Dorsey Dog is part high-energy, mischievous, stubborn, scruffy dog, and part sweet, cuddly, eager-to-please lapdog. Though he looks like a Miniature Schnauzer, he is supposedly a Poodle & American Eskimo mix, aka an Eski-poo or Poo-kimo (the latter just sounds like a Pokeman character to me). He is two years old.
Dorsey recently appeared on the Philly evening news in a segment about canine intelligence in which he was rated “pretty clever,” but not as smart as the golden retriever, who was apparently a genius. You can watch Dorsey in action, inviting the cameraman to play, investigating the testing materials, and tricking his owner into grinning manically while wearing a ski mask here: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6500867
What are some of Dorsey's quirks?
Dorsey is very energetic and playful, but is also a total snuggle puppy who loves to sit in people’s laps (luckily, he’s only 28 pounds). He’s a super social doggie who loves to play with other dogs and meet new people. In fact, the one time he accidentally escaped the house, he immediately ran down to the corner bar to hang outside with the people at the café tables (and I’m sure he was hoping to get some bacon from his friend, the bar’s cook).
When Dorsey is misbehaving or we need to keep him calm in an exciting situation, we put a doggie backpack, bandana, or sweater on him. As soon as one of these items touches his body, he completely freezes and acts like he’s paralyzed. When I finally coax him to walk with accessories on, his back end goes faster than his front end so that he ends up curved like a crescent moon, walking kind of sideways and listing to the side. It’s truly bizarre, but it puts him on his best behavior.
Any bold moments or super powers?
Dorsey is pretty darn smart, but that makes him very mischievous. He has an uncontrollable desire to steal socks and shoes (among other things). In fact, he can steal a sock left unattended in a different room, out of sight, within about 3 seconds. That would totally be his super power. It’s like he has secret surveillance cameras that alert him to opportunities for satisfying his foot apparel fetish even when he’s not in the room. I think I even predicted he would do this when he used to nap with his head in my shoe as a puppy. And he always prances away with his treasure—I think this game is all about the chase.
What inspired his name?
That’s a funny story. We were told that Dorsey was a female puppy. A vet even certified him as such, in three separate places. I suspected she might be a he (though there was a LOT of hair down there so it was difficult to tell), but who am I to argue with a medical professional? So we named “her” Dora in part because my husband is slightly obsessed with the silly questions Dora the Explorer throws out to the audience. We thought it would be funny.
Soon, my suspicions that she might be a he grew, and our real vet confirmed his true sexual identity. So we were on a hunt to find a new, masculine name. While my husband tried to convince me that “Billy Ray” was a good choice (in homage to Eddie Murphy’s character in the Philly-based “Trading Places”), I heard “Billy Ray Cyrus.” Veto! After researching baby name websites, we eventually came up with Dorsey, which had the same first syllable (Dorsey had already started responding to Dora after only a day or two). and had the added benefit of being the last name of D.B. Sweeney’s character from one of our favorite guilty pleasure movies, “The Cutting Edge.”
There is one problem with Dorsey’s name, though. People usually think I’m lisping the name “Dorothy,” and we’re back to the gender issues.
Look at Dorsey right now. What is he thinking?
I’m in the middle of doing laundry, so he’s trying to figure out how many times he can steal dirty socks and underwear out of the laundry bag before I get smart and put it out of his reach. He’s also hoping I get distracted when the mail comes, so he can have some fun with it first. (Since we live in the city, the mail drops onto the floor through the mail slot, and it’s always a race for me to get to it before Dorsey “fetches” it and chews the edges.) And every time I get out of my office chair, he pops out of his doggie bed and wonders if I’m gonna take him out for a walk or get him a treat, or if it’s just another lame trip to get something I need for work.
What books is Dorsey looking forward to in the coming months?Well, Dorsey took a nap on the manuscript for FASHIONISTA, the second in Micol Ostow’s Bradford Novels series, while I was attempting to edit it. Funny how difficult it is to edit when a doggie paperweight is covering up the words. But I’d say he’s definitely shown an affinity for that one. And I know this sounds like pandering to my host, but we’re both looking forward to reading The Dust of 100 Dogs, since he loves to meet as many dogs as possible and I’ve always had a strong interest in pirates that grew even stronger after I edited several books about the subject. (I once got all 10 questions right during a pirate-themed round of a pub quiz.) I will say that Dorsey’s probably not looking forward to the Hunger Games sequel as much as I am, since the first one kept me up all night reading and he would prefer I just go to bed and let him snuggle.
Thanks for hosting us, Amy!
Thanks so much for coming around with the awesome Dorsey, Liz! Eat lunch in Rittenhouse Square for me, will you?
Ooo. I found this awesome review of D100D online today. Thought I'd share.
And speaking of wagging, don't forget--today is Wednesday! Get over to Wolfy Chicks and make a comment to win a copy of The Dust of 100 Dogs.

Everybody Sees the Ants

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About Me

I'm a writer. Still Life With Tornado is out now and people seem to dig it so far. I Crawl Through It is surrealist glee. Glory O'Brien's History of the Future won the Walden Award. Reality Boy was a NYTBR Editor's Choice. Ask the Passengers won the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Everybody Sees the Ants was a 2012 ALA Top Ten pick and an Andre Norton Award finalist. Please Ignore Vera Dietz was a 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and an Edgar Award nominee. The Dust of 100 Dogs was an ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and Cybils finalist. A new YA book is coming in 2018. I also write Middle Grade fiction under the name Amy Sarig King. I don't discuss politics or religion. I just write books. And I like corn.